November will be a special month in the sky. Brilliant Venus will be climbing higher out of the twilight glow and Saturn will continue to dominate the southern sky. It will be almost in line with Fomalhaut in Piscis Austrinus (the Southern Fish) below and the two stars on the right side of the “Great Square” of Pegasus (the Flying Horse) above. Also, very bright Jupiter and reddish Mars will rise in the east later in the evening. Jupiter will be in Taurus (the Bull) between his horns and to the left of the bright reddish star Aldebaran that represents his eye. Mars will be moving eastward and away from the bright twin stars of Gemini (the Twins).

The constellations also will be interesting. The bright stars and constellations of winter will start to make their appearance in the late evening while the constellations of summer will be mostly gone. The summer triangle of three bright stars will still be in the western sky, but it will be getting lower during November and telling us that summer is gone and autumn is upon us. The highest of the three will be Deneb, which represents the tail of Cygnus (the Swan). It can be found by extending a line from star 3 through star 1 of Cassiopeia (the Queen). If you are facing west, Altair in Aquilla (the Eagle) will be to the lower left of Deneb and Vega in Lyra (the Harp) will be to the lower right.

Locating Vega will be especially important because it is a guide to the star that should explode any day and form a nova, translated as “new star.” It will be located about two-thirds of the way between Vega and the western horizon or the bright star Arcturus in Bootes (the herdsman) if it has not set. This is just east of the brightest star between Vega and Arcturus.

A nova, forms when the gravity of a small, dense remnant of a star, called a white dwarf, pulls gas from a nearby star. When enough gas piles up on the surface of the white dwarf, it spontaneously detonates as a thermonuclear explosion. This nova is special because it is one of the few that detonates periodically. It has exploded about every 80 years for a very long time. When it explodes, it should be about as bright as the north star and should last about a week before it dims and disappears for another 80 years.

Observing Highlights

Nov. 1: Mars will be below and will form an almost straight line with the bright twin stars of Gemini (the Twins) after they rise just before midnight

Nov. 3: Star gazers rejoice as Daylight Saving Time ends, and the stars come out an hour earlier.

Nov. 4: The crescent Moon will be close below brilliant Venus low in the west during evening twilight. On the 6th, the moon will have moved in its orbit and will be to the left of Venus.

Nov. 10: The Moon will pass very close below Saturn. If you ever wanted to observe the eastward orbital motion of the Moon, this is the night to observe it. The Moon will be to the right (west) of Saturn in the early evening, but by 10:00 CST it will be to its left (east).

Nov. 16: The Moon will be above very bright Jupiter. It also will be to the upper left of bright star Aldebaran and the rest of the “V” shaped face of Taurus (the Bull).

Nov. 17: The Moon will form a line with Jupiter in the middle and Aldebaran on Jupiter’s right.

Nov. 19: The Moon will be below and almost on a line with Pollux and Castor, above. Mars will be to their lower left.

Nov. 20: The Moon will be close to the lower left of Mars after they rise at about 10:00.